CYPRINUS.] PISCES (OSSEI) MALACOPT. 407 



of the dorsal fin, thence falling very obliquely to the nape, from which 

 point the profile falls less obliquely, causing a depression at the nape : 

 ventral line less convex than the dorsal : head small, about one-fifth of 

 the entire length : mouth remarkably small in proportion : jaws nearly 

 equal : distance from the eye to the end of the snout rather greater than 

 the diameter of the eye ; distance between the eyes nearly equal to twice 

 their diameter : scales smaller than in the next species, of a broad oblong 

 form, the basal portion with the margin somewhat sinuous, without radii, 

 the free portion with ten or twelve diverging radii : lateral line sloping 

 downwards from the upper part of the opercle, and curved throughout ; 

 midway, its course is at two-thirds of the entire depth : number of scales 

 in the lateral line about fifty-seven ; in the depth eighteen, twelve and a 

 half being above, and five and a half below, the lateral line : the whole of 

 the dorsal behind the middle, as well as behind the ventrals ; first ray 

 only half the length of the second; both these simple; the rest branched; 

 last two from one root : anal twice the length of the dorsal ; first ray very 

 small and easily overlooked ; second half the length of the third ; third 

 and fourth longest; the succeeding ones decreasing to the twelfth, be- 

 yond which they remain even : caudal crescent-shaped ; the lower lobe 

 longer than the upper: pectorals reaching to the ventrals: these last 

 extending to the vent: 



B. 3; D. 12 or 13; A, 28 or 29 ; C. 19, &c. ; P. 17; V. 9. 



(Colours.) Back dusky, passing into bluish green; sides yellowish white, 

 with a slight golden lustre ; belly almost plain white : irides yellowish 

 white : all the fins dusky, the pectorals alone faintly tinged with red. 



Found in large lakes and slow rivers ; generally in shoals. Keeps near 

 the bottom. Food, worms and aquatic vegetables. Attains to a large 

 size : weight sometimes exceeding twelve pounds. Spawns in May. 



87. C. Blicca, Bl. ? (White Bream.) Depth three 

 times and a half in the entire length : number of scales in 

 the lateral line not exceeding fifty-one: anal with from 

 twenty-two to twenty-four rays, 



C. Blicca, Block, Ichth. pi. 10. ? C. latus, Gmel. Linn. torn. i. part iii. 

 p. 1438. ? Jen. Cat. of Brit. Vert. An. 26. sp. 86. La Bordeliere, 

 Cuv. Reg. An. torn. n. p. 274. ? White Bream, or Bream-Flat, 

 Yarr. Brit. Fish. vol. i. p. 340. 



LENGTH. Rarely exceeding ten or twelve inches. 



DESCRIPT. (Form.) Not so deep as the last species ; the back much 

 less elevated : depth, at the commencement of the dorsal, contained three 

 times and a half in the entire length : greatest thickness very little more 

 than three times in the depth: dorsal line falling less obliquely, and 

 continued in one regular slope to the end of the snout, without any 

 depression at the nape : eyes relatively larger ; the distance from them 

 to the end of the snout not nearly equal to their diameter ; the distance be- 

 tween them not equal to one and a half times their diameter: scales larger; 

 the number in the lateral line about fifty or fifty-one, scarcely exceeding 

 this last number : number in the depth fifteen ; nine and a half being 

 above, and five and a half below, the lateral line : anal shorter, with five 

 or six fewer rays ; dorsal and pectorals also with one or two rays less 

 in number: in all other respects similar to the last. 



D. 10 or 11 ; A. 22 to 24 ; C. 19, &c, ; P. 15 ; V. 9. 



